What Areas of VA are Free of the "Yankee Go Home" Attitude? (Richmond: middle-class, apartment)

[VA Yankee]

OP when I was stationed there with the Navy I recall that mindset, the problem is that they forget the war is over and they lost so I remind them. Even today if someone jokes with that line I respond with The wars over and you lost did you miss the memo...

[Watchful]

Seriously I don't find the Roanoke area at all resentful toward those who have moved here. They seem happy that others have also fallen in love with the area. (It is a great spot for reasonably affordable suburban living by the way in a beautiful setting!) To be clear, I moved here from Texas, so didn't expect anyone to call me a Yankee LOL!

[macalan]

This is the attitude we'd like to escape.... (this is not a joke).

"Yankees may have sold their homes in the north for good money and come down and bid up the property in the south,making it unaffordable for locals .
they are not as genteel,polite and well groomed,well manner as the southerners.
they do not know how to make peach cobbler !
they speak with a funny accent and they shop for grocery in larger quantity-a bigger roast,more beef and less pork?
they dont appreciate the finer things in life ,they are crude and inconsiderate.
they talk funny !they walk and dress different.
they are not as refined,and they dont host tea party,
also they won the war and let the blacks roam around".

So far - Roanoke, Charlottesville, Richmond burbs, Williamsburg possibly - are there any other towns/cities to scout out where people are more open-minded and don't generalize, ostracize or label other people?

So weary of the "us vs them" mentality. At the end of the day we are all just people trying our best to get through life and contribute where we can.

[michgc]

I would definitely check out Winchester, VA. It's about 1 and 1/2 hours from Annandale and right off I-81, so convenient to get up to Massachusetts (and avoid I-95) and close enough to DC and your niece that you could visit pretty easily. It's been at least a decade since I've been in their downtown, but it's quaint with a (closed-off to cars) walkable area. They have a beautiful library and high school. The area is growing due to its distance to Northern Virginia employment areas. We considered moving there when we got fed up with NoVA traffic and congestion, but it was a bit too far removed for me at the time. It's definitely worth considering and a nice place to visit.

[western mass and love it]

The Hampton Roads area is very transplant friendly. Williamsburg and Yorktown are very nice communities in the Peninsula and Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk and Norfolk are all great places to live. Close to the ocean, easy access to the Outer Banks of NC and a few hours drive to DC. Richmond isn’t far either.


Winchester is a nice area too, although it does get rural pretty quickly out that way. Harpers Ferry West Virginia is also a very nice place to live.

[Rickcin]

Originally Posted by macalan

We currently live in a burb of Charleston, SC in an area full of transplants. Despite it being a transplant "friendly" area, we often hear when we mention we are originally from New England (MA) - "Yankee Go Home", and it's not being said in jest.

It's not something that's said to transplants from other areas of the country, although for a time there was a fixation on people from Ohio. It's not in response to some sort of "we do it this way at home" from us. We are polite and respectful and try to get along with everyone. But if you are a "Yankee" here, it's made clear by many that they don't want you living amongst them.

We are contemplating relocating to VA to get away from the hurricanes as it gets harder as we get older to board up the house, drive 5 hours in bumper to bumper traffic to evacuate every year, and all that comes with the - the prep, the cost, etc. We also have family and friends in the state, plus it's closer to home and being near DC is a huge plus.

I'm hoping VA is not like SC with how they feel about people from the north. Are there particular spots in VA where this attitude is not prevalent and people are more accepting of ALL "outsiders"? I'm thinking Northern, VA, Charlottesville, Richmond burbs and perhaps Williamsburg? My niece lives in Annandale and she is from NH and doesn't mention this happening there. We're not sure Northern VA is in the budget and/or the traffic is something we'll want to deal with as we age so would like to have a couple of other places to explore when we visit.

Thank you.

We moved to SW Virginia from NY, definitely considered a”Yankee Country” and have never felt out of place here or even teased about being from the North or being a Yankee!

A few of my friends, however have moved to SC and have had some different experiences and have said it’s like they never got past the Civil War and are very unaccepting of outsiders? A very strange attitude but I’ve head this many times that once you go south of NC, the old South still lives.

It’s really a narrow minded and extremely biased attitude especially when considering all of the legal immigrants that came to this country and have helped it to grow and prosper.

Meanwhile, we love living here in Virginia, for the climate, the mountains and the people.

[Positiveone]

Thank you. Pretty much the same with us. We are not city people. Suburban, somewhat rural i wouldn’t mind. We were considering west of Richmond.
Have you been to the Richmond suburbs? We have not made a trip there just yet.

Originally Posted by macalan

Hi there. Yes, we are considering that area. Not the city itself (we are not city people), but the surrounding suburbs. Best of luck with your surgery.

[slowlane3]

The western suburbs of Richmond are considered the best side, and they also sprawl out from the city the furthest for many miles (on both the north and south sides of the James river).. Short Pump is the biggest fanciest shopping mall in the metro area, and there is a sizable Asian and Indian population. The planned developments of Brandermill and Woodlake (part of the Midlothian zip.code) are award.winning but very car.centric, with no public transport. Pocahontas state park isnt far away.

Charlottesville is ranked high on many lists as one of the best places in the U.S. to live in or retire to. The area has horse farms, wineries, and a premier university, and is socially liberal. Housing costs are higher there than in other small cities off I-81 in the Valley which also have colleges.

Williamsburg has arguably the world's foremost reconstucted living history site, as well as the prettiest theme park in the U.S. (Busch Gardens) and the golfing communities of Kingsmill and Fords Colony. You are close to military bases and V.A. hospitals.

[whiskeytangofoxtrotalpha]

I was born and raised in New York and the only Yankees I ever liked there was the baseball team in the Bronx,

[TheseGoTo11]

I've visited Charleston a few times and had no idea it was really like this. I'm from the Boston area originally, used to live in Northern Virginia, and think I met more people from New England than natives of that area. You'd have zero issues there. One thing I did hear is people from downstate Virginia calling Northern Virginia yankees but they seemed to be kidding.